For many optical fiber applications, it is necessary to splice two separate lengths of fiber together to form a single spliced length of fiber. Frequently, these splices need to have high strength, comparable to the strength of the fiber.
Among known fiber splicing techniques is arc fusion splicing, which can be an automated process. Exemplarily, a computer controlled fiber positioner aligns the fiber ends face-to-face until optimum fiber-to-fiber optical transmission is achieved. A current is then supplied to two electrodes, with the resulting electric arc heating the optical fibers such that the two abutting fiber ends are fused together. See, for instance, D. L. Bisbee, "Splicing Silica Fibers With an Electric Arc", Applied Optics, Vol. 15, No. 3, Mar. 1976, pp. 796-798.
It is known that optical fiber splices that are formed by means of arc fusion frequently have relatively low strength, frequently less than half of the intrinsic strength of the glass. This is a drawback that limits the usefulness of this, otherwise advantageous, splicing technique. Thus, it would be desirable to have available an arc fusion splicing method and apparatus that can produce a higher percentage of high strength splices than is typically obtained with prior art techniques and apparatus. This application discloses such a method.